1903 in Japan

Events in the year 1903 in Japan. It corresponds to Meiji 36 (明治36年) in the Japanese calendar.

Incumbents

 * Emperor: Emperor Meiji

Governors

 * Aichi Prefecture: Masaaki Nomura
 * Akita Prefecture: Shiba Sankarasu then Ichiro Tsubaki
 * Aomori Prefecture: Ichiji Yamanouchi then Katsutaro Inuzuka then Shotaro Nishizawa
 * Ehime Prefecture: Tai Neijro
 * Fukui Prefecture: Suke Sakamoto
 * Fukushima Prefecture: Arita Yoshisuke
 * Gifu Prefecture: Kawaji Toshikyo
 * Gunma Prefecture: Yoshimi Teru
 * Hiroshima Prefecture: Asada Tokunori then Tokuhisa Tsunenori
 * Ibaraki Prefecture: Chuzo Kono then Teru Terahara
 * Iwate Prefecture: Ganri Hojo
 * Kagawa Prefecture: Motohiro Onoda
 * Kochi Prefecture: Kinyuu Watanabe then Munakata Tadashi
 * Kumamoto Prefecture: Egi Kazuyuki
 * Kyoto Prefecture: Baron Shoichi Omori
 * Mie Prefecture: Kamon Furusha
 * Miyagi Prefecture: Terumi Tanabe
 * Miyazaki Prefecture: Toda Tsunetaro
 * Nagano Prefecture: Seki Kiyohide
 * Niigata Prefecture: Hiroshi Abe
 * Oita Prefecture: Marques Okubo Toshi Takeshi
 * Okinawa Prefecture: Shigeru Narahara
 * Saga Prefecture: Fai Kagawa
 * Saitama Prefecture: Marquis Okubo Toshi Takeshi
 * Shiga Prefecture: Sada Suzuki
 * Shiname Prefecture: Ryogen Kaneo then Matsunaga Takeyoshi
 * Tochigi Prefecture: Sugai Makoto
 * Tokushima Prefecture: Saburo Iwao
 * Tokyo: Baron Sangay Takatomi
 * Toyama Prefecture: Rika Ryusuke
 * Yamagata Prefecture: Tanaka Takamichi
 * Yamanashi Prefecture: Takeda Chiyosaburo

Events

 * March 1 – 1903 Japanese general election: The Rikken Seiyūkai party remained the largest in the House of Representatives, winning 175 of the 376 seats, but lost its majority.
 * July 7 – Momijigari, the oldest extant Japanese film, premiers. It runs until August 1.
 * Unknown date – Kagome was founded, as predecessor name was Aichi Tomato Food Processing in Tokai, Aichi Prefecture.

Births

 * January 2 – Kane Tanaka, supercentenarian (oldest verified Japanese person and the second oldest verified person ever) (d. 2022)
 * January 7 – Mori Mari, author (d. 1987)
 * January 25 – Fumiko Kaneko, anarchist (d. 1926)
 * February 3 – Yasutarō Yagi, screenwriter (d. 1987)
 * February 5 – Koto Matsudaira, diplomat (d. 1994)
 * February 18 – Tokihiko Okada, silent film actor (d. 1934)
 * March 6 – Empress Kōjun, empress consort of Emperor Hirohito (d. 2000)
 * March 30 – Chiezō Kataoka, actor (d. 1983)
 * April 11 - Misuzu Kaneko, poet (d. 1930)
 * May 19 - Shimoe Akiyama, Japanese supercentenarian (d. 2019)
 * June 8 – Yukie Chiri, Ainu transcriber and translator (d. 1922)
 * June 22 – Jiro Horikoshi, aircraft designer and engineer (d. 1982)
 * August 3 – Roppa Furukawa, film actor (d. 1961)
 * September 7 – Kensaku Shimaki, writer (d. 1945)
 * October 1 – Yoshiyuki Tsuruta, Olympic swimmer (d. 1986)
 * October 13 – Takiji Kobayashi, writer (d. 1933)
 * November 3 – Shizue Shiono, film actor (d. 1962)
 * December 12 – Yasujirō Ozu, film director and screenwriter (d. 1963)
 * December 31 – Fumiko Hayashi, writer (d. 1951)

Deaths

 * February 18
 * Prince Komatsu Akihito, Field Marshal, Chief of the General Staff (b. 1846)
 * Onoe Kikugorō V, kabuki actor (b. 1844)
 * April 28 – Saigō Tanomo, Shinto priest, martial artist and former Samurai (b. 1830)
 * May 22 – Misao Fujimura, student and poet (b. 1886)
 * June 29 – Rentarō Taki, pianist (b. 1879)
 * August 27 – Kusumoto Ine, physician, first female doctor of Western medicine in Japan (b. 1827)
 * September 13 – Ichikawa Danjūrō IX, kabuki actor (b. 1838)
 * October 30 – Ozaki Kōyō, author (b. 1868)